If you are reading this to read about our ministry, or what God is teaching us or shaping us as parents, just move on from this post. It's one of my most trivial posts ever... but leads to my best birthday gift.. ever!
Well, I've always had a special bond with curly-haired friends, because they just GET IT! But I feel like I've had quite the hair journey...
At age 12 my parents had just bought a beautiful newer home and our family was, well, living on a VERY tight budget. We were pinching pennies everywhere. And so my mom decided to cut our hair rather than taking us to the cheapo salon we had gone to.
<<< BAD IDEA>>>
When you're already at the awkward stage of life, don't really have the money to do things your peers are doing (or wear anything remotely fashionable) just give your kid a decent hair cut ;) But for real, my poor mom felt awful and learned then and there how DIFFERENT curly hair is.
Enter the years of triangle hair, frizz, not knowing how to care for my hair, etc. And I started straightening it. And when I say straightening I mean washing at night, blow drying for a LONG time, sleeping on it, getting up and straightening it with a flat iron for A LONG time. My hair was not meant to be straight. It was a lot of work. I have a vivid memory of spending over an hour straightening it--- before going on a youth group trip to ... THE LAKE! I was crazy and had no idea how to care for my hair.
Even my mom realized what a problem we had that she started paying to get my hair chemically relaxed (like what African American's do with their super textured hair). My hair was high maintenance I guess! So I had straight hair for a few years, and then got to high school, and my frizz had lessened a bit and I started just wearing it curly and being like any busy high schooler- just wash and go.
And that brings me to college- where I washed my hair EVERY SINGLE DAY! I remember living in the dorms and getting up at 6 am to go for pre-student teaching and dunking my hair in the nasty sink just to get it wet so I could go with "curly" hair... And it was fine. But looking back, I needed some help!
And that brings me to Champaign- where my dear friend introduced me to Deva Curl- a method of cutting and caring for curly hair that has rocked my world. I got a book- "Curly Girl" and started LOVING my curls. I went from saying I would NEVER buy expensive shampoo... to buying expensive shampoo, conditioner and gel! (AHH!) It's a major splurge- but trust me, a priority I budget for and so worth it! And then I found myself paying for REAL haircuts! But when your grandma even says, "YOu need to keep going to that salon- your hair just looks so nice" you listen, and keep going. {I miss this salon sooo much and my stylist takes MONTHS to book with, so I long for the day to get back to my favorite stylist in Champaign.. someday!) But anyway..
This leads me to my birthday... and how I can't believe I asked for (and got) the best birthday gift ever....
a hair dryer. Like the one you sit under at the salon. It seems insane, but in thinking about it I realized I had lived 15 years of my life with WET HAIR all of the time!!! It takes 6-8 hours to dry and I wash it every day... so that means LOTS OF WET HAIR!!! I feel like it's a day at the spa every time I wash my hair and care for my curls and sit under my hair dryer while reading my Bible and dry my hair!
And I only have to wash my hair every other day or even less. And I finally have found a way to care for these curls God gave me so many years ago... just in time to start teaching my kiddos how to be curly girls :-) So if you're out there with curly hair that you are keeping hidden, don't do that! Put away the straightener and let me introduce you to DEVA CURL! I have gotten SO many friends on board - I don't know if I should ffee bad (since it's expensive) or ask for a commission (since they LOVE their curls finally!)
All I can say is, it's AWESOME to be a curly girl :)
Well, I've always had a special bond with curly-haired friends, because they just GET IT! But I feel like I've had quite the hair journey...
At age 12 my parents had just bought a beautiful newer home and our family was, well, living on a VERY tight budget. We were pinching pennies everywhere. And so my mom decided to cut our hair rather than taking us to the cheapo salon we had gone to.
<<< BAD IDEA>>>
When you're already at the awkward stage of life, don't really have the money to do things your peers are doing (or wear anything remotely fashionable) just give your kid a decent hair cut ;) But for real, my poor mom felt awful and learned then and there how DIFFERENT curly hair is.
Enter the years of triangle hair, frizz, not knowing how to care for my hair, etc. And I started straightening it. And when I say straightening I mean washing at night, blow drying for a LONG time, sleeping on it, getting up and straightening it with a flat iron for A LONG time. My hair was not meant to be straight. It was a lot of work. I have a vivid memory of spending over an hour straightening it--- before going on a youth group trip to ... THE LAKE! I was crazy and had no idea how to care for my hair.
Even my mom realized what a problem we had that she started paying to get my hair chemically relaxed (like what African American's do with their super textured hair). My hair was high maintenance I guess! So I had straight hair for a few years, and then got to high school, and my frizz had lessened a bit and I started just wearing it curly and being like any busy high schooler- just wash and go.
And that brings me to college- where I washed my hair EVERY SINGLE DAY! I remember living in the dorms and getting up at 6 am to go for pre-student teaching and dunking my hair in the nasty sink just to get it wet so I could go with "curly" hair... And it was fine. But looking back, I needed some help!
And that brings me to Champaign- where my dear friend introduced me to Deva Curl- a method of cutting and caring for curly hair that has rocked my world. I got a book- "Curly Girl" and started LOVING my curls. I went from saying I would NEVER buy expensive shampoo... to buying expensive shampoo, conditioner and gel! (AHH!) It's a major splurge- but trust me, a priority I budget for and so worth it! And then I found myself paying for REAL haircuts! But when your grandma even says, "YOu need to keep going to that salon- your hair just looks so nice" you listen, and keep going. {I miss this salon sooo much and my stylist takes MONTHS to book with, so I long for the day to get back to my favorite stylist in Champaign.. someday!) But anyway..
This leads me to my birthday... and how I can't believe I asked for (and got) the best birthday gift ever....
a hair dryer. Like the one you sit under at the salon. It seems insane, but in thinking about it I realized I had lived 15 years of my life with WET HAIR all of the time!!! It takes 6-8 hours to dry and I wash it every day... so that means LOTS OF WET HAIR!!! I feel like it's a day at the spa every time I wash my hair and care for my curls and sit under my hair dryer while reading my Bible and dry my hair!
And I only have to wash my hair every other day or even less. And I finally have found a way to care for these curls God gave me so many years ago... just in time to start teaching my kiddos how to be curly girls :-) So if you're out there with curly hair that you are keeping hidden, don't do that! Put away the straightener and let me introduce you to DEVA CURL! I have gotten SO many friends on board - I don't know if I should ffee bad (since it's expensive) or ask for a commission (since they LOVE their curls finally!)
All I can say is, it's AWESOME to be a curly girl :)
